I got 6 chicks from tractor supply yesterday. One is very lethargic. Constantly sleeping, falls asleep while standing. Doesn't seem to want to eat. I did just get it to drink quite a bit of water with electrolytes so maybe that's a start. Do I need to separate it? Try to feed it? Any other ideas? I sure why like to help it get over this!
What ever this chick has, the others have all been exposed. When I start chicks, my "tool box" has: Poultry Nutri-drench, and Electrolytes. If you don't use fermented feed, I'd also add ACV with the mother, and Probiotics. IMO, these items cost so very little compared to the risk of death from hatching or shipping stress.
Can you add probiotics and electrolytes in the same water? I have some just didn't know if I need to use it yet
Definitely separate the chick from the others since this could be contagious and there could be a risk that the other chicks will get sick too. Keep giving it the water, but also add a little bit of garlic in the water. How does its poo look? Keep it warm and try not to stress it out, it's hard to tell what is wrong with chicks and in most cases the sick chicks pass away. Let us know how the chick is doing soon, more lethargic? Getting better? Eating more?
Ummm....well I'm sorry your chick is sick. I'm not sure which TSC you bought them from, but I found out my 2 local TSC have chicks that come from a hatchery called Townline. I'll give you more detailed info on it if you need, but after calling the hatchery while standing in the store today, I discovered this hatchery has MG positive stock. This is a lifelong disease. The reason I asked is bc I noticed they had antibioitics in the water. So you may want to call your TSC and if this is from the same hatchery, I would be getting a refund and I would return the chicks. This is not a disease you want to deal with for the rest of their lives. If this is not the hatchery your TSC ordered their chicks from, your birds may have coccidiosis. Which is not much of a problem. They'll just need a little TLC. Are they sneezing? Do they have watery or swollen eyes? Is the poop bloody? Do they have a bad odor coming from their mouths? These things are all indicative to different illnesses is why I ask. Separating sick chicks at this point will be for naught. They've all been exposed. I'd only separate if some are being bullied by the others.
CV does nothing. There is a great post with a link to a study on BYC somewhere about the science behind it and why it is not a proven remedy for anything. I will try and find it. Sad to say, but look at the cost of the chick and the cost of trying remedies that may or may not work. If it does not get better in a day or two after being seperated i would cull the chick to avoid contaminating the others. You might also want to ask yourself if you want a potentially unhealthy and weak chicken in your flock. Darwinism... Also (and i mean no offense) consider the source of your chicks. Nothing against TSC. I like the store and the products available but i wouldn't buy a puppy from Walmart.
I appreciate all the advice. I've separated the chick and given it water with probiotics and electrolytes. Actually I gave that to the healthy chicks too. I can get the chick to drink by holding its beak o the water so I know it took some in. Still won't eat. Hopefully tomorrow might show some improvement. Again thanks for all the help. I appreciate each and everyone of your replies.
First time poster and chick caretaker by accident. I am looking for a little advice and explanation for a chick that died last night. I came upon the situation unexpectedly and did the best I could with the resources I had but was unsuccessful in saving the chick. Yesterday I was working at a horse barn in the Northeast... about 20 degrees outside. In the barn was what looked like a young hen with a single chick, probably only a few days old. I did not pay too much attention as my job was with a horse, but the chick seemed okay as far as I could tell. About an hour later when I was getting ready to leave, I saw the hen outside and there was her chick by the edge of the road, upside down in a pile of snow/slush. I don't know how long he had been there but he could not right himself and seemed in pretty bad shape. I brought him back into the barn and tried to corral the hen back to the barn without success. In the cold temperature and as bad as he looked with the hen uninterested and the chick taking agonal breaths, I did the only thing I could think of...wrap him in a towel and put him in my car with the heat cranked up. He was still alive when I got home and now chirping a bit. I was amazed he was still alive. I had no real chicken supplies so I made up some warm sugar water for energy and dosed him with an eyedropper. Amazingly he improved over several hours. I fixed up a cardboard box with a towel, using a bodywarmer for skiers at the bottom of the box, and then set the box on the radiator with a towel partially covering it so he couldn't get out but could get air. I dosed him with the sugar water every few hours and scattered some bird seed (only thing I had) on the bottom of the box, and placed a small container of water in it (he could not drown in it). By the evening he seemed pretty much normal. I was so happy! I went to bed and when I woke up the following morning he was dead. I was devastated! I know the situation was not ideal and I did not have everything I needed on short notice to take care of him properly, but I am beating myself up thinking I should have done something differently to save him. Especially when he seemed to come back from the brink of death. Should I have woken up every few hours to feed him with the sugar water? Could the sugar water have messed up his metabolism? Was it too hot or too cold for him? I should have had a thermometer in the box but I didn't. When I checked the temperature afterwards in the same situation the temp was 80 degrees. I know now it probably should have been more like 90, but that was the warmest I could make it given my resources at the time. Could that have been too warm considering he had come from a much colder barn? As upsetting as this is for me, I just want to learn from this so I will not make the same mistakes if ever I find myself in a similar situation. I am sure if I had not brought him home he would have died, but to have him improve so dramatically and then die anyway is very hard to accept. Could the stress of the whole day finally been too much for him? Thanks in advance for your help and advice to a non chick farmer but someone who tried to help a little chick!
Hi, make a wet mash with the chick feed. Most really like it. I myself would not add anything to the water but electrolytes if she's dehydrated. Like pedialyte. I have found in the past that I've had a few sluggish chicks in the past and found they couldn't eat the crumbles. The wet mash really got them going.